Editing Photos (Simplified)

On a personal note, I'd like to thank Nicole Pfeiffer for teaching me that I was editing my photographs the hard way, indeed! I've simplified this editing process so that you can create beautiful black and white photos with a splash of colour that much faster.

Back to business...

As an artist, I tend to be a perfectionist. This, of course is one of my worst habits. Usually, artists thrive on the imperfect because it is what makes their art different from another, but to me that is only something non-artists think. (And possibly just me.) We make our imperfections on purpose, and in essence... perfectly imperfect!

That being said, I took a photography course in college, and I failed. I failed miserably! I hated photography after taking that course, but that didn't last long. I realized I had a pretty cool camera from the course and knew the basics of how to use it. Just an FYI, if you are looking to take a course in photography and know nothing about how to use a manual camera, do not take biomedical photography, this will detour you from your passion to take moments in life and freeze them in a photo. Take photography 101 so you can learn the in's and out's of your camera and learn to enjoy the art of photography.

The one thing that course taught me that I'm beyond thankful for was Adobe Photoshop. I have long been a fan of Adobe Photoshop. It has been a tool I use for making my pictures brighter, darker, black & white, taking out an unnecessary car from my otherwise immaculate landscape, etc. Photoshop has also served as a comic relief tool for me by creating extreme one of a kind shots of friends and family members. We called those photos sharpie art. But my favourite has been taking a colour photo and making it black and white, while leaving some of the photo in colour.

My sister and my nephews are in the photo below and I did several things with this photograph, but most notably I changed the colour mode to black and white, while leaving their shirts in colour. (I also took out a neighbor's playhouse and boat, if you look close enough, you'll notice a little bit of my editing. This was a difficult picture to work with.)

I've been asked by friends, family, fellow Etsy-ians and strangers how I make these beautiful photographs in Photoshop. And my answer to me, is simple. Now of course, I have no idea if I'm doing my editing the "correct" way, but what I'm about to show you works for me. And, with practice, I hope it works for you too!

Keep in mind that I am using Adobe Photoshop 7, so your program may be different than mine. In regards to Photoshop, most of the programs have similar layer features, colour mode, and cropping tools. As well as editing commands using the Ctrl key.

1. First you need to select the photograph you'd like to use for this picture. It works best with a photo that has a bold or bright colour that you're going to highlight. Here is the photo I used:

There are two main things to keep in mind when you want to take a colour photo and make it black and white with a splash of colour, the first being: Crop your photo to desired size PRIOR to any of the steps below. This saves you from figuring out exact crop points later on. The second is choosing what pieces you want to keep in colour. After you do both of those things, proceed to the next step.

2. The very first thing you're going to do is select your Lasso Tool, also known as the cropping tool. You are going to want to select the Polygonal Lasso Tool. As this allows you to crop by clicking around an object instead of having to freehand crop, which is much more difficult. You change which Lasso Tool you are using by right clicking the mouse to get the drop down menu. For practice, click around on the photo until you're comfortable with how the polygonal lasso tool works.

3. Once you have this tool selected, I want you to highlight the object you want to KEEP in colour. After you have selected this object, I want you to copy it. You can do this by holding Ctrl C or by going to Edit > Copy.

4. The next thing you are going to do is convert the colour mode to grayscale. You do this by clicking  Image > Mode > Grayscale.

 

5. After you have changed the photo into grayscale mode, you are going to go back and change it into RGB mode. This will keep the photo in a grayscale colour while being in a RGB colour mode, thus allowing you to paste your coloured object, which you already copied, back onto the grayscale photo but in colour. You change the colour mode just the same as you did when you changed it to grayscale, but this time select RGB mode.

 

6. After you change the colour mode back to RGB colour, you can paste your copied colour object into the grayscale photograph. You do this by holding Ctrl V, or Edit > Paste. Then select the Move Tool and move your copied colour object until it is directly over the area it lays in the grayscale photo. After you have positioned your colour object to its original spot, click Ctrl E, this Merges the layers together so that when you save the photo as a JPEG, it will save all of your hard work. You can also merge by clicking Layer > Merge Layers.

7. Lastly, ENJOY your beautifully edited photo!!

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial of Photoshop. With many trials, you will learn your errors and better, faster ways of doing things. I did just that with this latest blog and I'm able to share it with you. Thanks again, Nicole.

Happy Photoshoping!

Love,

Katie.

"Love will immediately enter into any mind that truly wants it." -A Course In Miracles.

Inspiration

I've had a lot of inspiration in my life in regards to art, but it all started with my mom. She is always working on something whether it's a blanket, a doll, a costume, or helping me keep my grand ideas within the reality of a pattern... of sorts. My mom and I work on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to sewing. She loves patterns, understands them well, and uses them. I, on the other hand, hate patterns, understand them (though I feel restricted), and hardly use them. She is a organized mess, and I am a neat freak. She can't remember where she put her seam-ripper, and I don't know who moved my seam-ripper. It's a wonderful mix of black and white, which is probably why grey is one of my favourite colours.

Sewing has always been in my life. My mom used to make these cute little fabric dolls that every little girl in our family 'HAD TO HAVE!' She would make them look like the girl she was giving them to, very adorable. She made a couple of my high school dresses for dances, Halloween costumes, Renaissance Festival costumes, crocheted blankets for everyone, and many other crafts and projects that have sparked my attention. I started sewing when I was in high school, which was probably more out of necessity than a hobby at the time. (I loved certain clothes and couldn't part with them when they ripped, so I learned to fix them.) I can still recall my dad telling me, "Be careful not to get your fingers too close to the needle." Even today, when I'm busy ripping various cases, bags, clothes through my sewing machine, I hear my dad's voice telling me to be careful.

My mom is and always will be the reason I got into sewing and designing. For allowing me to think outside of patterns, and one who supported me in my decision to try and make a business out of sewing.

The next source of inspiration is my boyfriend's mom, Maggie. She is a quilting genius!! I knew there were ladies out there who were amazing quilters, but I hadn't met one. My mom, an amazing seamstress, is not a quilter. Quilter's are highly organized, and my mom is not so much. (Love you mom) Maggie taught me so much about sewing, even the language of sewing. A scant stitch was the latest lingo I learned. All jokes aside, Maggie truly made me a better designer and sewer. She taught me that patterns weren't evil, that sewing machines get angry for reasons, and to simplify my designs. She gave me short cuts, she gave me ideas, and she made sure that I finished my mother's quilt in time for Christmas.

So, thank you Maggie for guiding me down the right path and teaching me that sewing is not only fun, but addicting! I no longer like to create, I need to!

There have been numerous people in my life that have in one way or another inspired me to pursue a career towards one of my artistic talents. Other than sewing, I like to paint, draw, design, and the biggest of all is photography. All of which are hobbies that were meant to keep me busy. I can't sit still for five minutes, let alone have just ONE hobby.

Jacqueline Garcia always supports me, no matter what crazy idea I come up with. My sister is my biggest fan, and will soon start modeling my designs for me. Josephine Stoltzfus, is an amazing industrial designer and artist, who made me realize having that one item that no one else has not only makes you a fashionista, it makes you different... and I loved that!

But of all the people in my life, I've always looked up to and admired one more than the rest. Nicole Pfeiffer has more artistic talent in her pinkie finger than most have in their entire bodies. Her photography is utterly amazing, though I'm not sure that words can sum up how I feel about her photography. I've been lucky enough to model for her for a website of my own, and I hope to do it again for whatever reason she can come up with. (If not, I'll have to make up reasons!) I was drawn to Nicole in high school, as she is not only an amazing artist, she is a great friend. She can draw, she can mold, she can paint, she can create. You give her a material to work with and she'll make something beautiful out of it. She is truly an inspiration and I'm very blessed to have her as a friend.

Lastly, the sole reason that I started sewing again after I got out of college was my nephews. Drew and Luke are the most amazing little guys any Aunt could ask for. Drew was born on July 17th, 2006 and Luke was born on January 3rd, 2008. Drew is a very artsy little guy. He takes his drawing and painting time very seriously. Actually, he takes everything pretty serious. He is a hardcore hockey fan and player. Drew is very intelligent, and is hard to get one by him. He can even spell his name and write it too!! Lukie, on the other hand, is very mischievous, shy (at first,) and creative. He is an excellent problem solver, and he is the cutest 2yr old on the planet.

When they were born, I had this itch to make them something. I hate giving toys as gifts. I find them useless. As a nanny, I know that kids attention to a toy usually lasts about five minutes before they move on to something else. Books are huge with kids, puzzles, colouring books, etc. But what do you get for newborns? How about custom designed onesies and t-shirts? That's what I did for Drew and Luke. As they got older, I learned what peaked their interests, what hobbies they were forming, and bought gifts accordingly. But I still make them different shirts, pillow cases, scarfs, and odd and end things.

Who needs more than these two cute little guys for inspiration?

Not me, thank you Drewy and Lukie!

Love,

Katie.